Bemoaning the loss of Lost? It’s the same feeling we had after Friends and Seinfeld ended. Well, television execs are not giving up on you so easily. They’ve got a whole slew of shows set to premiere for the summer season, starting tonight. Here, some shows with some AA representation you may wanna watch this week.
Drop Dead Diva, Lifetime
Premieres Sunday, June 6, 9 pm
Former Audrey cover girl Margaret Cho returns as the title character’s sassy assistant Teri in the second season of the Lifetime hit series Drop Dead Diva. Here’s the premise: shallow wannabe model Deb dies in a sudden car accident only to find her soul resurfacing in the body of a brilliant, plus-size and recently deceased attorney, Jane (Brooke D’Orsay). Deb has to come to terms not just with Jane’s curvier frame, but with how to reconcile her beauty-queen ways with her brilliant new mind. D’Orsay does an amazing job conveying Deb-in-Jane, and based on some premiere photos, it looks like Cho is gonna take on a bigger role in the series.

Looks like Cho 's gonna be upping her game in the second season of Drop Dead Diva. Photo courtesy of Lifetime.
Pretty Little Liars, ABC Family
Premieres Tuesday, June 8, 8 pm
You’ve seen the billboards. Four hot young girls, covered in dirt. Eye catching, to say the least. But what really stood out to me is the girl on the far right, actress Shay Mitchell.
Mitchell plays Emily Fields, an athletic girl who is struggling with her sexuality and the loss of her best friend. Emily, along with her now estranged, former BFFs, holds a deep, dark secret within in what appears to be the perfect little town of Rosewood. But they’re not the only ones with secrets apparently, as things start to go very wrong.
Mitchell, whose mother is Filipino and father is Irish-Scottish, is a native of Toronto, Canada. She’s been performing and modeling since the age of 5, appearing in the hit series DeGrassi: The Next Generation and Disney’s Aaron Stone. She is featured in the music video for Sean Paul’s hit song “Hold My Hand” and will appear in the upcoming ABC series Rookie Blue.
But Mitchell is not the token Asian in this series. Janel Parrish also stars in Pretty Little Liars as now popular classmate Mona Vanderwall. Parrish, best known for her role as Jade in the Bratz series, and May in NBC’s Heroes, was born in Oahu, Hawaii, and is Chinese-Caucasian American.
The Next Food Network Star, The Food Network
Premieres Sunday, June 6, 9 pm
Another season of cooking hopefuls looking to land their own show. Last season, Korean American Debbie Lee made it to the top three. This season, Chinese American Doreen Fang is gonna try to make it with her California cuisine with Asian influences.
The 38-year-old from Los Angeles co-owns a catering company and teaches cooking classes for adults and children. Raised in a predominantly Chinese community, Fang says she finds culinary inspiration in her family and friends, and wants to encourage home cooks of all levels to explore new cuisines, and stretch their imagination in recreating dishes inspired by a childhood memory or favorite haunts.
True Beauty, ABC
Mondays, 10 pm
Last (and unfortunately, probably least), we have yet another season of the reality show competition where contestants think they’re being judged on their good looks, but they’re actually being judged on their “inner beauty.” (They haven’t figured it out yet??)
Filipina-Italian American Vanessa Minnillo returns to host, and this time, they’ve got an Asian American contestant, Amy, who was adopted from Korea as an infant. The bio on Amy on ABC’s website describes her as “ditzy” and she says she “doesn’t identify with Asian culture.” Hm. I say, watch at your own peril.
Maybe you’re not a print person. Maybe you’re more the neutrals-go-with-everything type, or even, head-to-toe black. Sure, we’ll all be wearing monochromatic looks come fall, if designers have any say in it. But it’s summer! Now’s the time to experiment with color, prints, contrasts and textures.
Illuminate your summer look with Althea Harper’s native print, 100% cotton stretch jersey, high-waisted pencil skirt. Abstract, ethnic, arty — the candy-colored graphic print can go any direction. All it takes is a few well-chosen, well-placed accessories and you’re instantly the chicest woman in the room.
Best of all, it’ll look great with your white button-down, slouchy tee or anything else in your all-neutrals closet.
It’s June and that means the official start to wedding season! Now, if you’re anywhere near to getting married, you’re probably running around like decapitated poultry. So while I can’t help you with your quarreling bridesmaids, your in-law-to-be’s insistence on inviting your third cousin twice-removed and their truckload of screaming tots, or wrapping party favors, I can tip you off to the cutest little cake toppers ever.
Asian American artist YuYu custom makes these adorable cake toppers, any ethnicity, any outfit. Check out some of her custom combos:
Wanna include your dog? No problem. Glasses? Long hair? A special dress? Get creative! Check out more creative combos here. To custom order your own Cutie Couple, go to YuYu Art.
A glint of gold. That’s all you need when the sun is out, a cool, salty breeze rustling palm fronds overhead, steel drums playing in the background. A bikini, a sheer cover-up, and a glint of gold on the wrist.
Well, maybe more than just a glint. Marcia Moran’s hammered gold-plated cuff with sliced cut-outs is more full-blown gilded glam. The hammered texture catches extra light and lends a certain luminosity to tanned skin.
And of course, as with all Marcia Moran jewelry, it’s nickel- and lead-free, and always hypo-allergenic. So you just get a glint of gold without a hint of guilt.
Happy Friday! For today’s giveaway, we’re gonna do you up with some of the most daring colors of the summer.
Lily Lolo Mineral Cosmetics is a London-based, award-winning cosmetics line. They only use certified organic ingredients and all their products are free from bismuth oxychloride and other harsh chemicals. The ingredients are carefully chosen to avoid irritating the skin’s delicate pH balance, and they’re vegan and vegetarian friendly!
Sure, that’s all good, but how does it look? Well, their color range is pretty spectacular, and they say they test each new product and color for application and wear before it launches.
Formerly only available in Europe, Lily Lolo is now here in the U.S. and you can be one of the first to try out their line of natural and organic mineral makeup. With a mission to really value each customer, Lily Lolo provides “how to” videos for their products and have experts available to answer your questions on their website Lilylolo.us.

Lily Lolo "Be Dazzled" kit includes a mineral blush, two eye colors and a lip gloss, all in your choice of colors.
Now two Audrey readers can get started with their very own customized “Be Dazzled” kit from Lily Lolo. Each kit contains your choice of mineral blush (9 hues, available in matte and shimmer), your choice of two vibrant eye shadows (28 colors available), and your choice of one delicious lip gloss (9 to pick from!). Try out the color of the season with the Khaki Sparkle eye shadow, or get your flush on with the Clementine blush. Each kit retails for $48, but of course, we’ve hooked you up for free!
To enter, you know the drill — just comment below. You have till June 9, Wednesday, at 11:59 p.m. to comment. And you must have a U.S. mailing address to win.
Good luck!
When I went to Hawaii a month or so ago, I lived in my hat.
Here’s what I envisioned: A holiday chic look, lounging by an infinity pool or scouring a local handicraft market, with oversized Alexander Wang sunglasses adding an air of mystery and Chanel Le Vernis in Jade on the toenails.
After looking at the photos, here’s what actually was: Pale, pasty, practically all vision obscured by my blah-colored hat. You couldn’t tell from the photos whether I was 36 or 63.
Lesson learned. Next time, I’m going with a colorful paper braid hat with adjustable brim. The happy tropical hues alone are enough to liven up any holiday chic look.
That, and some serious self-tanner.
In Audrey‘s Summer Issue, we highlighted comedian Steve Byrne in our Personalities section. Here, some more about the lovable comedian, written by Naomi Fujimoto.
In his dressing room at the Orange County Pavilion in Santa Ana, Calif., Steve Byrne is eating an orange and stacking the peels neatly on the table. Dressed in a crisp white shirt, black tie, and black dress pants — part of the suit he’ll wear later for the taping of his new special — he looks more CEO than stand-up comedian.
But you already know he’s funny. And when you watch The Byrne Identity, his newest show premiering on Comedy Central on July 25 (but you can get it now on DVD at Amazon), you’ll see him riff about puppies, Taco Bell and what your musical tastes say about you. Here are a few things you might not have known about Steve Byrne.
1. He owes his start in comedy to his parents.
No, really: When club owners said Byrne could perform on stage only if he brought a couple of people, guess who came to buy the minimum two drinks? For three or four months!
Even when he was scheduled for 11 and instead took the stage at 1 am, his parents would wait. “They’d sit there and watch horrible comedy. I mean, horrible,” he says. “Including mine.”
2. He did five or six shows a night, 365 days a year. For eight years.
Regarding his time in New York, Byrne says, “I never took a day off. That was my life.”
To call his work ethic “Asian” seems like an understatement. Because when’s the last time you did 13 shows in one night? (And no, he didn’t kill at all of them: Check out the DVD Thirteen or Bust.)
He never knew he’d be funny or good at comedy. Instead, he says, “I always wanted to make a living at it.” His work in the last year has been especially meaningful: “There’s still some silly stuff that got me by in my first few years, but this stuff has a lot more weight to it. And I’m more proud of it.”
3. He bombed the night before taping The Byrne Identity.
In comedy, performances are measured in life-or-death extremes: you kill or you bomb.
“Last night I bombed,” Byrne laughs. “I’m working on this material. But there’s pockets where sometimes people don’t know you, they don’t know what you’re about, maybe they don’t appreciate your opinion.”
Five hours before the taping of his new special, he still keeps a level head about his struggles. “Bombing happens,” he says. “As a comedian, you’re going to bomb. It’s like figure skating. Are you gonna fall at some point? You’re gonna fall.”
4. He doesn’t enjoy working out.
Byrne has joked that, in high school, he had a body that would’ve only been attractive to “lonely German businessmen.” But the trim 6-footer grew up playing hockey in his hometown of Pittsburgh.
Now, he says, “I’m not a big workout guy. I’m a big ribs, In-N-Out Burger guy.” He may catch a pre-show nap, but Byrne is all energy when he hits the stage — busting a few dance moves, too, in his mockup of a boy band.
As for the running shoes in his dressing room, he explains, “Those are cool-looking shoes, is how I see them. Nobody runs in those.”
And lifting weights? He asks how much I can bench press. “Fifty pounds?” I guess.
“Fifty-one pounds, then, for me,” he declares.

Steve Byrne backstage at the Orange County Pavilion, doing the Asian "Oooooh!" Photo by Yukie Fujimoto.
5. You’ve seen his Bruce Lee. He also does a Jackie Chan …
… whom he admires. “There’s like five people I wish I could meet, and he’s definitely one of them. He’s so funny, he’s acrobatic, and he does that thing like all Asians do if you hit your shin, ‘Ooooooh.’” Byrne scrunches up his face and rubs his shin vigorously: “And you start rubbing it, and you shut your eyes. ‘Ooooooh!’”
Only Asians do that? “I think only Asians do that,” he says. “‘Cause Jackie Chan does that every time in one of his movies — ‘Ooooooh!’ And all my relatives always did and it’s always made me laugh.”
The Byrne Identity premieres July 25 on Comedy Central. To keep up with Steve Byrne, visit stevebyrnelive.com.
Story by Naomi Fujimoto.
Naomi Fujimoto is the author of Cool Jewels: Beading Projects for Teens. She also likes to write about relationships — the good, the bad and the unexpected. Her work has appeared in Tennis View, Alimentum, and East West. Check out her blog at cooljewelsnaomi.blogspot.com.
Leave it to Nicole Lee. The handbag company always has its finger on fashion’s pulse, knowing exactly what details and silhouettes are de rigeur. With this particular bag, you get chains and studs, popular now for the past couple seasons. But you also get the slashed effect that is everywhere now (there’s a whole style page on slashes and cut-outs in our Summer issue).
And at this price, you have no excuse not to get it. Treat yourself!
Why hellooo …
I was casually flipping through the latest H&M magazine when I noticed an Asian guy in one of the main fashion spreads. It’s rare to see Asian models at all, much less Asian male models, and even rarer, one Asian male model with a bunch of white female models. I had to find out who this guy was.
Turns out, it’s Allen Tsai with Next Model Management. The 6’2″ model’s quite the star, at least by Asian male model standards. Gap, Esprit, cKone … that’s a pretty impressive resume.
Check out some more of his work here. And stop drooling.
As some of you may know, Audrey Magazine was named after our publisher’s daughter. James Ryu started the publication in 2002, inspired by his young American-born daughter, and wanting to provide a magazine that reflected not just faces like hers, but the unique bicultural world in which she lives and will grow up.
It doesn’t hurt that the name “Audrey” also references one of the most stylish and elegant women in American history. I first became obsessed with Audrey Hepburn in the ’90s when I discovered Roman Holiday. I devoured all her films, biographies and especially the clothes. I even dressed up as Holly Golightly one Halloween … back when I still dressed up for Halloween.
Now that strong eyebrows and winged eyeliner and pixie cuts are making a huge comeback, Audrey is more relevant than ever. And beyond her beauty and sophistication, towards the latter half of her life, Audrey Hepburn dedicated herself to the children of the world as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador. That’s something all of us, including Audrey, can aspire to.
Get Transparent System’s ode to the iconic Audrey Hepburn!